QGIS Planet

In a recent post, we used aggregates for labeling purposes. This time, we will use them to create a dynamic data driven style, that is, a style that automatically adjusts to the minimum and maximum values of any numeric field … and that field will be specified in a variable!

But let’s look at this step by step. (This example uses climate.shp from the QGIS sample dataset.)

Here is a basic expression for data defined symbol color using a color ramp:

Similarly, we can configure a data defined symbol size to create a style like this:

Temperatures in July

To stretch the color ramp from the attribute field’s minimum to maximum value, we can use aggregate functions:

That’s nice but if we want to be able to quickly switch to a different attribute field, we now have two expressions (one for color and one for size) to change. This can get repetitive and can be the source of errors if we miss an expression and don’t update it correctly …

To avoid these issues, we use a layer variable to store the name of the field that we want to use. Layer variables can be configured in layer properties:

Then we adjust our expression to use the layer variable. Here is where it gets a bit tricky. We cannot simply replace the field name “T_F_JUL” with our new layer variable @style_field, since this creates an invalid expression. Instead, we have to use the attribute function:

With this expression in place, we can now change the layer variable to T_M_JAN and the style automatically adjusts accordingly:

Temperatures in January

Note how the style also labels the point with the highest temperature? That’s because the style also defines an expression for the show labels option.

It is worth noting that, in most cases, temperature maps should not be styled using a color ramp that adjusts to a specific dataset’s min and max values. Instead, we would want a style with fixed value to color mapping that makes different datasets comparable. In many other use cases, however, it is very convenient to have a style that can automatically adapt to the data.

Geometry generator symbol layers are a feature that has been added in QGIS 2.14. They allow using the expression engine to modify geometries or even create new geometries while rendering.

Geometry generator symbol layers make it possible to use expression syntax to generate a geometry on the fly during the rendering process. The resulting geometry does not have to match with the original geometry type and we can add several differently modified symbol layers on top of each other.

To add a geometry layer representing feature centroids, we need to set the geometry type to Point / Multipoint and enter the following expression:

centroid( $geometry )

It is worth noting that the correct geometry type has to be set manually. If a wrong type is set, the symbol layer can not be rendered.

Drawing buffers around features

Buffers are an example of a polygon geometry generator layer. The second parameter of the buffer function defines if the buffer is generated outside (for positive values) or inside (for negative values) of the feature. The value has to be provided in the layer’s CRS units, in this case, that means an inner buffer of 0.005 degrees:

buffer( $geometry, -0.005 )

Creating a line between features in different layers

The following expression creates lines from all district centroids (as shown in the first example) and a feature from the Citybike layer where the STATION attribute value is ‘Millennium Tower’:

Using a classic SQL query, we can join state polygons and migration flows into a new virtual layer:

The resulting virtual layer contains 72 polygon features. There are 8 copies of each state.

Now that the data is ready, we can start designing the visualization in the Print Composer.

This is probably the most manual step in this whole process: We need 9 map items, one for each mini map in the small multiples visualization. Create one and configure it to your liking, then copy and paste to create 8 more copies.

I’ve decided to arrange the map items in a way that resembles the actual geographic location of the state that is represented by the respective map, from the state of Vorarlberg (a proud QGIS sponsor by the way) in the south-west to Lower Austria in the north-east.

To configure which map item will represent the flows from which origin state, we set the map item ID to the corresponding state ID. As you can see, the map items are numbered from 1 to 9:

Once all map items are set up, we can use the map item IDs to filter the features in each map. This can be implemented using a rule based renderer:

The first rule will ensure that the each map only shows flows originating from a specific state and the second rule will select the state itself.

We configure the symbol of the first rule to visualize the flow strength. The color represents the number number of people moving to the respective district. I’ve decided to use a smooth gradient instead of predefined classes for the polygon fill colors. The following expression maps the feature’s weight value to a shade on the Viridis color ramp:

ramp_color( 'Viridis',
scale_linear("weight",0,2000,0,1)
)

You can use any color ramp you like. If you want to use the Viridis color ramp, save the following code into an .xml file and import it using the Style Manager. (This color ramp has been provided by Richard Styron on rocksandwater.net.)

If we go back to the Print Composer and update the map item previews, we see it all come together:

Finally, we set title, legend, explanatory texts, and background color:

I think it is amazing that we are able to design a visualization like this without having to create any intermediate files or having to write custom code. Whenever a value is edited in the original migration dataset, the change is immediately reflected in the small multiples.

The conveyor belt is a line symbol that makes extensive use of Geometry generators. One generator for the circle at the flow line start and end point, respectively, another generator for the belt, and a final one for the small arrows around the colored circles. The color and size of the circle are data defined:

The collection also contains a sample Geopackage dataset which you can use to test the symbol immediately. It is worth noting that the circle size has to be specified in layer CRS units.

It’s great fun playing with the power of Geometry generator symbol layers and QGIS geometry expressions. For example, this is the expression for the final geometry that is used to draw the small arrows around colored circles:

Using OSM data in QGIS is a hot topic but so far, no best practices for downloading, preprocessing and styling the data have been established. There are many potential solutions with all their advantages and disadvantages. To give you a place to start, I thought I’d share a workflow which works for me to create maps like the following one from nothing but OSM:

Finishing preprocessing in QGIS

In QGIS, we’ll want to load the points, lines, and multipolygons using Add SpatiaLite Layer:

When we load the spatialite tables, there are a lot of features and some issues:

There is no land polygon. Instead, there are “coastline” line features.

Most river polygons are missing. Instead there are “riverbank” line features.

Luckily, creating the missing river polygons is not a big deal:

First, we need to select all the lines where waterway=riverbank.

Then, we can use the Polygonize tool from the processing toolbox to automatically create polygons from the areas enclosed by the selected riverbank lines. (Note that Processing by default operates only on the selected features but this setting can be changed in the Processing settings.)

Creating the land polygon (or sea polygon if you prefer that for some reason) is a little more involved since most of the time the coastline will not be closed for the simple reason that we are often cutting a piece of land out of the main continent. Therefore, before we can use the Polygonize tools, we have to close the area. To do that, I suggest to first select the coastline using "other_tags" LIKE '%"natural"=>"coastline"%' and create a new layer from this selection (save selection as …) and edit it (don’t forget to enable snapping!) to add lines to close the area. Then polygonize.

The upcoming 1.8 release contains many new features for handling layer styles.

Copy-paste Styles

Very handy new entries in the layer list context menu: “Copy Style” and “Paste Style” make copying layer styles really fast. You don’t even have to open layer properties anymore.

SLD Support

Besides the classic QML layer style files, QGIS 1.8 supports the SLD standard. SLDs can be exported from and imported into new symbology.

One thing worth to note: SLDs can be exported from any type of renderer: single symbol, categorized, graduated or rule-based, but when importing an SLD, either a single symbol or rule-based renderer is created.

That means that categorized or graduated styles are converted to rule-based. If you want to preserve those renderers, you have to stick to the QML format. On the other hand, it could be very handy sometimes to have this easy way of converting styles to rule-based.

Symbol Levels

If you are looking for the “Symbol level” settings, they have been moved to the “Advanced” button:

Rule-based Renderer

The rule-based renderer GUI got a major face-lift. Just compare the 1.7 version

Rule-based renderer GUI in 1.7

to the new clean 1.8 version:

Rule-based renderer in 1.8

Grouping of styles has been overhauled too: Using drag-and-drop, layers can be arranged into groups in a more flexible manner than previously possible.

There is also a new context menu which enables workflows such as changing the transparency of multiple symbols at once:

Symbol levels for the rule-based renderer can now be accessed via “Rendering order”.

It’s obvious that a lot of work has been put into style handling since the 1.7 release and these improvements are just a small fraction of what’s been done to get closer to the big goal: releasing 2.0.

Inspired by the “OSM Bright Minimal” style for Tilemill, I’ve created a similar background map style for osm2po layers in QGIS trunk (uses features unavailable in 1.7.3): osm2po_light_style.qml. Together with a grey background (RGB:232,232,232) and an OSM natural layer (RGB:208,208,208 for water), the style looks like this:

example map using osm2po_light_style.qml

It’s plain and bright, so any overlay will stand out nicely. Hope you find it useful.